The Thought That Counts
by Pessimist
Summary: After inheriting nearly a billion dollars after her grandfather's death, Kagome and her family try to become used to a richer neighborhood and new people. But leisure is the last thing she gets when moving in next to a drug addicted neighbor...
1. Death and Money

**Author's Notes:** First off, this isn't my story. No, it isn't... but now it is! It was from the mind of one of my closest friends, but she lost interest a while ago and handed it over to me. It's still the same general plot with a few of my own ideas thrown in. If by any chance you've read it before, tell me what you think of my version of it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Inuyasha... DUH!

* * *

**The Thought That Counts**

**Chapter 1**

**Death and Money**

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* * *

**

Kagome Higurashi groaned, dumping the contents of her school bag on her unmade bed. Luckily she had an excuse for leaving it in the messy state it was in. Her rather obese cat Buyo lay stretched out in the pile of blankets and sheets and a noise of contentment escaped his throat. Kagome scratched his belly and the cat purred in gratitude.

She wanted it to rain. It had been so long since the parched earth had tasted water, and the hazy city air was thick with the smell of smog and cigarette smoke... not something she particularly enjoyed inhaling. Summer in the city had been hard every year for Kagome and her family, but enough dwelling on problems like that.

She unwillingly picked up her Algebra book, found a comfortable position on her bed, and began scribbling down some numbers. Extra homework for failing a test... again.

She hated math. It was her worst subject, and as she looked at the problems in the book, she realized that she was probably going to end up staying awake until midnight trying to finish the damn page.

She groaned again. Fate _sure_ hated her.

"Kagome get in here!" The black haired teen heard her mother call up the stairs in a hoarse voice.

There were only two occasions in which her mother's voice would crack like that. Either she, Kagome Higurashi, was in trouble, or something was very wrong concerning the woman. Judging by the chewed eraser at the tip of her pencil, and the sketches on her binder paper, either something was wrong, or her mother had found out about the stick figures on the corner of her homework page.

Very unlikely.

"What is it?" she called back down without getting up from her position on her stomach.

"Please come down, Kagome!"

With a roll of her eyes, the girl slid off of her bed and headed out of the door waking up Buyo in the process.

"What?" she asked, annoyed, as she entered the kitchen.

"I just got a call from Grandma." her mom said. Kagome was surprised to see tears staining her cheeks. "Grandpa had a heart attack last night while they were watching TV. Grandma called an ambulance and had him taken to the hospital. She didn't call anyone last night because she was sure that he'd be ok, but he died this morning."

Kagome just stood there, open mouthed at her mother's face, unaware of the cat that was currently rubbing against the back of her knees. There were tears streaming down her mom's face. It made Kagome almost want to cry too.

_Almost._

"I'm so sorry, Mom." She said walking towards her mother, and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"It's ok dear, it's not your fault." Her mother replied. "I have to go to the funeral this Sunday. Can you watch Souta for me?"

"Sure, Mom." Kagome would do anything for her in her time of need. "Does Souta know about this?"

Her mom replied by saying, "No, not yet. I think I'll tell him later. I just dread spreading news like this... Souta will be devastated! Now, I guess I should start cooking..."

"No, Mom, I'll do it. I know things are difficult for you, and I wanna help." Kagome hugged her mom.

"No, no that's okay, sweetie. I don't want things to be any less than normal around here. Even with Grandpa gone."

Kagome watched as her mom walked slowly into the kitchen to prepare supper, thinking that it was going to be hard to keep the house running smoothly without her grandfather…

Kagome paced the floor in her room, thinking things through. Where were they going to live? Grandpa had paid for everything. The phone bills, the electric bills, and their house and car bills.

Her grandpa was the founder for a top organization called S.T.A.R. (Save The Animal Race) and had worked there ever since he graduated college. Her grandpa had loved animals. He had four dogs and two cats, as well as a cage full of canaries. Why he had canaries, Kagome didn't know, but that didn't prevent him from being an elite member of the society.

The company helped lost and hurt animals find new homes. They also had a jungle and other land forms built in **one huge** building! Her grandpa was practically a billionaire! Surely he had written a will before he died... There _had_ to be something about money in there.

She sat herself down on her bed and kneaded her forehead with her knuckles, trying to absorb everything, and how things would change for this period of her life.

Even though the old man had annoyed her with his constant legends and histories about swords and various jewelery – that was another thing, he was a total nut about antiques – she couldn't help but feel a little skittish. Without her grandpa, her survival would be about as likely as Kagome giving up her Jiu Jit Su for ballet, and that was damn near impossible.

_**Flashback**_

_"Kagome! Don't eat those! Those are ancient bean cakes! They almost touched the lips of a legendary warrior!" Her grandpa ran over and snatched the withered pastries out of his granddaughter's hand, dusting them off with an old feather duster. "Besides, they're way past their expiration date!"_

_Looking at the cakes squished in her granddad's hands, Kagome began to feel extremely nauseated and suddenly lost her appetite. "And why didn't he eat them?"_

_"Don't be silly! He was a samurai, and the enemy attacked him from behind." He finished dusting them and placed them lovingly back onto the doily._

_Typical. It was just excellent that her grandpa just _had_ to put those disgusting bean cakes on the kitchen table. On a nice, clean plate too. "Why would you put these things on the table?"_

_"I'm sure you would love to hear the origin of these cakes." he said, ignoring her._

_Kagome could feel the beginning of a long lecture and began devising an excuse to exit the room. She knew it was impossible to tell him that she didn't care in the slightest._

_"It was perhaps five hundred years ago, when a – "_

_"Listen, Gramps, I gotta go to school, but I'll catch you later." Kagome said, interrupting his speech._

_"Ok, goodbye, Kagome." Smiling, he waved to his grand daughter from the front door of the shrine._

_Kagome left the house and closed the door behind her._

_She rolled her eyes. Of course she had no intention of hearing the rest of his story after school. She would probably have tons of homework. It wasn't likely that he would remember anyway._

_A sigh of relief passed through her lips._

_**End of Flashback**_

Without realizing it, Kagome began pacing the small area of her bedroom once again. Her mind was spinning wildly and it made her head ache.

She shook her head, causing her bangs to fly about. It wouldn't work out. Maybe her mom was worried about it too, but the look on her face earlier was enough proof to show how distressed she was. Who could blame her? Kagome didn't want to make things worse by mentioning money issues to her mom. But, money was probably number one on her list of "Things to Discuss in the Near Future."

Kagome yawned and sprawled herself out across her bed sheets.

Death. It was an enormous thing to go through. But was there life after death? She didn't believe it, but at the moment, it was nice to have a comforting thought inside her head about where her grandfather would be then.

The girl didn't know it, but she was really tired, and before long, her eyes started to droop.

She couldn't hope for the best, but she had somehow convinced herself that things wouldn't get too bad.

* * *

Kagome woke up greeted by the rancid smell of cigarette smoke.

After a wild fit of coughing, she looked out of her window and internally groaned once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness.

There, on the sidewalk, was a long haired figure smoking on the corner of her street. And since her room was facing the front of the house, the bitter smell had no trouble entering her nose.

Kagome realized that it was four-thirty in the morning after looking at the neon symbols on the alarm clock on her bedside table. Surely everyone was still asleep...

"Hey!" she yelled out her window, throwing caution to the winds. The dogs in the neighborhood immediately started to bark wildly.

The person turned to face her, taking a big inhale of tobacco smoke and making a lazy "Hi" gesture with his free hand.

"Could you please not smoke here? I kinda live in this house, you know?" Kagome could almost feel the guy tensing up after she said that.

He yelled something back at her that made her face turn red with anger. "Right back at you! Just to let you know, if you keep that up, I'll have an early death!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the canines to go into another wild fit of barks.

To her dismay, he just took another deep inhale of the vile smoke. At least he was smart enough to understand the concept of mental torture.

Whoop dee doo.

Hadn't her puny mind suffered enough this past week? Failing tests, extra math homework... and now this?

"Jerk." she mumbled to herself as she slammed the window shut, making the blinds crash nervously against the wall. The dogs barking was still loud enough to penetrate the glass of her window.

No matter what she said, he just kept coming back. Smoking on street corners without a care in the world. Ignorance certainly _was_ bliss to that fellow, puffing away obliviously on the smoldering cigarette butt as he inhaled tar and a bunch of other junk.

Did they teach him _nothing _in school? How did people just do things like that without caring? Did he have any idea of what could happen to his health? Whatever people said about it calming you down was complete bullshit. But did he have a clue? Apparently not because it was evident that he was still gulping down the stuff... in front of _her_ house!

What a Bastard!

After about another ten minutes of incoherent rambling to herself, Kagome fell into an uneasy sleep. Her dreams were haunted by the mysterious smoker. If he could be called that...

* * *

"Mr. Sesshoumaru," a nervous young girl asked her boss during the wee hours of the morning. The sun had not yet peered over the horizon yet.

"What is it, Joi?" the man replied from his seat. It squeaked under his weight as he shifted his position to stretch his arms.

The secretary cleared her throat importantly. "It is to my understanding that the founder of S.T.A.R. has just died recently. I didn't know if you knew yet since this company is so huge." She gave a nervous giggle. "I thought you should know since you're the VP... So... that's all."

"Thank you for telling me. Although, it has already reached my ears of his timely, yet unfortunate, death." That's what he said even though his voice remained a dull drone as he turned his rolling chair around to face the young woman.

His secretary giggled again and blushed covering her face with her clipboard, leaving only her brown eyes peering over the top. Her hands were shaking slightly. "I am glad to hear of it, sir." With a quick, and rather clumsy, bow, she left the room.

Sesshoumaru Sagashi looked over at the glaring computer screen again. The blinding blue light was beginning to get him peeved. He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

Normally heartless and cold, he felt it was his duty to protect the animals since he was a youkai after all. Plus, he needed whatever job he could get to make enough money to support him, his idiot brother, and his "adopted sister."

As if on cue, a girl of about fifteen scrambled into the room, and ignoring his protests, she sat on his lap, blocking the computer screen. "Hey, Fluffy. What's up?" Then she gestured to the door where the young female employee had just exited. "Obviously she's got the hots for you."

"Rin, it's five 'o' clock in the morning. Shouldn't you be asleep?" Sesshoumaru replied, obviously ignoring the comment she made about his secretary.

She twirled her black pigtails around her fingers. "Aww, don't be a party pooper. Besides, I got bored. Inuyasha said he was going to take a walk." She looked around for eavesdroppers. "_I_ think he's just going off to chase some women at a bar or – "

"Rin! Don't say things like that! What would people think?"

The teenager pulled herself out of her brother's lap. "I'm a teenager! I can make my own decisions!"

"I just don't want you to turn out to be like Inuyasha's slut girlfriend." He sighed. "Well, what do I know?"

"Ooh! High and mighty Sesshoumau said a bad word! Ooh!" Rin began laughing hysterically. She enjoyed laughing at him whenever possible.

"It tends to happen when people get stressed from working on the computer all night!" Sessoumaru growled in a response.

"That's okay, Fluffy." She began plaiting his white hair. "I don't know how you leave your hair alone! It's so beautiful!"

"You _do_ realize you've told me this at least fifty times, right?" Sesshoumaru said, trying and failing to stifle a yawn.

"Yes, but it's so amazing!"

"Well, I really don't care."

"Aww, you're no fun." She leant over his shoulder casually. "What are you working on anyway?"

"White lepoards." he stated matter-of-factly, though slightly irritated at Rin's breathing in his ear.

"Huh?"

"Somehow the pen the lepoards stay in got infested with mysterious white fungus. I'm debating with other members of this foundation where to move them now, and what to do with the white mildew. Some idiot in the next building thinks they're eggs, but I find it highly unlikely... And you know, it would be a whole lot easier to work on this if you weren't breathing down my neck."

"What kind of fungi are white?" Rin asked, now genuinely interested, ignoring his attempt to get her to leave the room.

"That's what I'm trying to find out. They could be mushrooms, although I'm sure it's too cold to grow them in there..."

"Eh, goodnight, Sesshoumaru." Rin said, giving the youkai a quick hug then exiting the room.

"I guess they could be some sort of ice plant… It's a possibility, but I'm sure that there is a difference in size and shape..."

Sesshoumaru spent another sleepless night in his office.

* * *

The sun filtered through the ratty old blinds, waking up the girl inhabiting the bed inside the room.

With an enormous amount of effort, Kagome eventually managed to roll over and look at her clock. Six-fifty. Amazing. She was ahead of schedule. Cool.

Out of habit, she took a glance out of the window and saw nothing but several smoldering cigarette butts. How long had he been there? And just to smoke too...

She let out a yawn and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. After pulling herself out of bed, she made her way groggily to the bathroom, leaving her bed unmade.

What a surprise.

She looked in the mirror and the first thing that popped into her mind was that she looked horrible. Horrible as in scum out of the drain horrible. She groaned.

"Kagome!" Souta yelled up the stairs. "Do you want to play some baseball later!"

Their typical way of communication; yelling up and down the stairs instead of walking down and speaking in a civilized manner. Laziness was quite common in kids these days.

"Maybe later! I have to study for my test on Monday!" Kagome hollered back down.

"Ok! Uh... do you want me to get you a bowl of oatmeal!" Souta cried up the stairs.

"What!" Kagome had a little trouble hearing since the sink was turned on.

"Do you want some oatmeal!" her little brother yelled again.

"I can't hear you!" she shouted, turning off the running water.

"DO YOU WANT SOME OATMEAL?"

"Ok! Just put some in a bowl! I'll fancy it up when I get down there!"

"What?"

"OK! Just leave a bowl on the table!"

"Alright! It'll be ready when you come back down!"

"What!"

"Your food will be ready when you come down!" Souta repeated.

"Ok! That's what I said to do in the first place!"

"Huh?"

"OK!"

And that was just the typical morning routine.

* * *

Ayumi Higurashi fidgeted nervously. The people who had congregated to hear the reading of the will after the funeral of her father were all gathered around tables sipping French wine and speaking in low and mysterious voices. Some were crying, but the majority of all of them were grim- faced and somber.

Every single one of them was wearing black, and Ayumi felt like she stuck out like a sore thumb. She was the only one that had chosen to wear pale lavender to a funeral and now felt extremely foolish.

She knew her father was not a depressed person. In fact, he'd given her the dress she was wearing, and she couldn't help but think that these people in black lace were disrespecting his memory. Half of them probably didn't even know him. They were probably just inferior employees hoping to be recognized by the founder of S.T.A.R.

Ayumi smirked. Her father wasn't dumb enough to hand cash to greedy money- hungry bastards. He was generous, yes, but not stupid.

Ms. Higurashi walked around the large room trying to talk to people, but after several failed attempts to lighten the mood and begin conversation with some of the other attendants, she sat down by herself and patiently waited for the reading of the will while tasting caviar on crackers for the first time. She decided that she didn't like the saltiness of it.

Finally, a speaker stood up and everyone quieted as he asked for the attention of the crowd. "We are here today to honor a brilliant man who had so much to offer into the business of animal protection. His fate is regrettable and I'm sure his memory will live on in all of our hearts..."

Ayumi Higurashi pursed her lip. She new damn well that half the people had only showed up because they hoped to receive something from her dad.

"... Now it is time for the reading of the will. First, his prized collection of baseball cards will go to Mr. Keichii Kuoy." Her uncle. There was a pause as a polite round of applause erupted in the room. "Second, his precious terrarium of exotic frogs will go to Ms. Nuriko Satsume..."

Ms. Higurashi nearly dozed off. The list seemed to go on and on. The reader droned on, only being interrupted by the dull applause after each announcement. However, when her name was called, she jumped in her seat.

* * *

Kagome and Souta were outside playing baseball when they heard their mother's scream.

"Kagome I'm home get in here quick!" screamed after just entering the house. She had just come back from her father's funeral, and she was carrying a load of groceries in one arm and a manila folder in the other. She was looking very happy about something. Tired, but happy.

"Mom, what's with the face?" Kagome asked her mother with a raised eyebrow at her parent's grin.

"You brought grandpa with you?" Souta quickly asked, his cherubic face glowing hopefully.

"No dear," their mother replied giving him a gentle look and chuckling lightly.

Kaomge rolled her eyes and muttered something about ignorance and incompetence. Unfortunately her brother heard her and jumped onto her back so her could have access to her hair.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I hate it when you make fun of me!" Souta said, yanking his sister's hair.

"Get off brat!" Kagome screamed. She tried to pry her brother off her shoulders, but foolishly leaned backwards and lost her balance. The two siblings fell to the ground in front of the door in a mess of angry shouts and flying limbs.

"Kagome! Get your hand off of my face!" Souta yelled angrily although muffled by his sister's palm.

"Then let go of my hair, runt!" Kagome shrieked back.

"You first!"

"KIDS!" Both brother and sister froze at the sound of their mother's voice. "Stop it! Right now! Kagome get off your brother."

"But – "

"NOW! And Souta, let go of your sister's hair!" Ayumi Higurashi looked particularly menacing with one hand on her hips and her eyes narrowed in fury. Kagome and Souta both stood up off the floor. Kagome's hair was twisted and looked abused, and Souta had a red handprint on his face. "Honestly, Kagome... I expected more from you. Now, take these into the kitchen." Kagome received the brown grocery bags from her mother and made her way out of the awkward silence and into the kitchen, but not before sending her brother a death glare that he returned.

"'I have no idea what you're talking about, but I hate it when you make fun of me!'" Kagome mimicked her brother in the kitchen as she unpacked the eggs from their carton and set them carefully in the fridge. She could hear her mother talking softly to Souta in the other room, but she couldn't hear it clearly enough to know what was being said. However, when she heard Souta's happy squeals and her mom's laughs, she abandoned the food and the refrigerator and rushed into the living room.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked, seeing her brother and her mom embracing on the sofa.

"We're MILLIONAIRES no BILLIONAIRES, _**BILLIONAIRES**_!" Souta screamed, jumping up and down on the old sofa. Kagome's mom shushed him when she saw the look of confusion on her face.

"Pardon my French, but what the hell just happened?" Kagome asked.

"I know this is going to be hard to believe, but it's the truth. In Grandpa's will he had over two billion dollars. Part of it goes to Grandma, a small portion of it goes to charities around the world and his company, and since I'm his only child the rest goes to our family!"

Kagome stared at her mom in disbelief. "And you're... you're serious?" she croaked out, hardly daring to believe her ears.

Her mother embraced her. "Absolutely."

"Now we can pay off all the bills and keep the farm!" Kagome said and without thinking went over to hug her brother, their feud forgotten.

"I can get a skateboard!"

"And I can get the piano I've always wanted!"

"That's lame! Why would you want that?"

"Shut up, Souta!"

"Well actually dear," said, putting a stop to her children's laughing and rejoicing. "I know this may be hard to grasp now, but I thought it through and realized that this is what's best for our family."

Kagome laughed. "Mom, what are you talking about? How could it get any better?"

"Dear," Ms. Higurashi said, putting a comforting hand on her daughter's shoulder. "We're moving."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Kagome's screams could be heard all through the street, making the dogs bark again.

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**Author's Note: **Woot! Chapter one! I'd appreciate reviews. Any kind is welcome. I already have the next eight chapters outlined, so I'll be updating, but don't expect anything immediately. I'm generally a very lazy person, and I live to please myself... Sorry if I offended anyone. Lol. Stay tuned for chapter two! And... don't forget to review. Laters!


	2. Sunny Meadows

**Author's Note:** All right, here's the long awaited chapter two! Lol Please excuse any errors in spelling and grammar. My old laptop doesn't have word so I'm stuck using wordpad...

**Disclaimer: **I really really really don't own Inuyasha.

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**The Thought That Counts**

**Chapter 2**

**Sunny Meadows

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**

"Absolutely not!" Kagome shouted, still shocked to hear her mom's sudden decision. "There is no way you are getting me out of this house! I'll fight you if I have to!"

Her mother looked at her with desperation and let out an exasperated sigh. "You always were amazingly stubborn Kagome, but there is nothing left for you here. I thought you wanted a new start. A new school, a new house... new friends?"

"Well... so did I! But I guess when faced with the decision, I can't say I really want it anymore." She walked halfway up the stairs and turned back around to face her mom, tears of frustration welling up in her eyes. "How could you decide this without telling anyone ahead of time?" Her voice was cracking with emotion.

Her mother made a move to go up the staircase, but then appeared to have thought better of it and stayed planted at the bottom. "I've been thinking about it for a while, to be honest." she said, drumming her fingers on the railing. "It's just... with all our budget problems, it would have been very difficult."

"So, what. You're going to suddenly turn Souta and me into rich snobs and send us to some fancy prep school where the kids play golf and drink tea all day? What about my Jiu Jit Su class? What about Souta's baseball team? Have you _really_ even thought about this?" Kagome almost screamed. "If I don't fit in here, do you honestly expect me to fit in over there! At least here in Kyoto I feel like... I'm home."

Her mother sighed. "I know, and I think I feel the same way sometimes, but this is what's best for us right now. You'll be able to get your own piano, and your brother can get a new skateboard... And now that we have the money, we can afford a bigger house and I can send you to a better college. Kagome, moving will open up so many doors for you! And I'm sure we can hire someone to help you continue with your Jiu Jit Su lessons, _and_ someone to help tutor you in math as well. I've already informed both your school and Souta's school that we'll be moving. Everything's all planned out. Besides, Kyoto is only a few hours away. I guess you could visit it occasionally."

Kagome just narrowed her eyes accusingly. "If Grandpa was so rich, why didn't we have all that stuff already? I mean, it was worth at least mentioning that he had that much money!"

"I don't think he wanted to spoil us. He didn't want us to turn into... well, stuck- up snobs." Kagome made an attempt to retreat to her bedroom, but her mom had walked up the stairs and had tugged on her sleeve. Kagome around to face her. "Kagome... I just want to do what I can to make us a happier and healthier family. I know moving is a big deal after living in one place for so long. And I know it can be scary, but you'll get used to it... trust me."

"Mom," Kagome said, sighing. "I really appreciate the speech, even if it's just bribery, but I can't just leave. It's not the money, it's for... sentimental reasons. I grew up here, and all those memories with Dad and Grandpa... I don't wanna go anywhere!" Kagome rushed inside her room as soon as her mom's grip loosened on her uniform sleeve and slammed the door in her mother's face. She ignored the sound when her mom began to rap on the door with her knuckles.

"You're nearly sixteen. You can't cry to get what you want anymore."

"I'm not crying!" Kagome called back from underneath her pillow, her voice slightly muffled. "I'm just really ticked off!" She picked up an empty water bottle off of the floor and chucked it at the door of her bedroom. It hit the door with a "Thump" and fell to the floor where it rolled harmlessly into the corner.

Then there was silence.

After a few moments, Kagome heard her mother's voice from outside. "Sorry, but I'm not going to argue anymore. You'd better get started on your packing. I've arranged for the movers to come by tomorrow at noon." Her mother's voice was soon replaced by her retreating footsteps... and then she was surrounded by nothing. Nothing but her own distressed and confused thoughts.

The small farm in Kyoto had been her whole life up until now. How could her mom do this to her? To her family? Sure, she never actually had any friends to leave so no one was really bound to miss her, but she got along with people and no one hated her. She just played the role of an innocent bystander, and that's how she liked to live her life. Somehow she guessed that would all change when they moved.

Her theory was that people wouldn't see her as an observer, but as someone who was just asking for attention by transferring to the academy during the middle of the school year. The last thing she wanted was to be picked on by other students, especially the ones who seemed to have the world on their side. She always thought going to a fancy school would be fun, but although her grades were above average, they weren't exceptional either... Still, she honestly didn't think she deserved the chance to be mixed in a class with a group of intellectuals. She just wasn't that special.

Kagome rolled over from her face down position to turn onto her back and look at the ceiling. She clasped her hands over her stomach and her old mattress squeaked under her weight as she tried to get comfortable. Her face was expressionless and her eyes were glass- like. The initial shock from the news probably hadn't hit her yet.

Not only was it going to be hard to go to a new school and move into a new neighborhood, but it was going to be even harder for her to say goodbye to everything she grew up with. The shrine to her father was in the backyard and Kagome couldn't understand how her mother could just leave him alone to probably be demolished by construction men within a week. She knew her mother loved her dad, and she knew that her mom would never forget him... But she also believed that her mom got over his death far too fast. Kagome certainly hadn't yet.

She sighed and glanced down at the crumpled math page that lay on her bedroom floor. As much as she hated to admit it, she would probably even miss some of the most obnoxious things in her life... like the psychopath that always smoked in front of her house, although she would only miss him in a demented way. For some reason, as much as she disliked him for smoking, Kagome began to take his presence as a sign that she was still living in a repetition. That her life was still going normally. It made her feel secure in a weird way to know that she wouldn't have any surprises, that she could just go about her business without worrying.

She doubted that security in a richer neighborhood would allow some vandal to walk the streets in front of a residential area at night anyway. Smoking pot no less... but perhaps there was a positive side too. No second hand smoke at least...

However, no matter how many positives she could find, it didn't change the fact that her schedule would be ruined. No more old alarm clock and no more flannel sheets. She'd probably have someone to come wake her up each morning and bring her breakfast as she sat up in her pale pink silk lined bed. No more walking to school in the morning. Chances were that she'd have a personal driver to even drive her to the mailbox. With a billion dollars, who _couldn't_ afford that?

Even in her head the whole picture looked cliché and stupid.

"As if." Kagome muttered to herself. She knew there was no way to change her mother's mind, but for the time being, she just wanted to enjoy her last night in her old bed under her old window in her old house. Normally the math homework on her bedroom floor would have been an issue, but since a few hours ago, she had no clue what normal was anymore. She glanced over at the clock, and got of her bed to change out of her old school uniform for the last time and put on fresh pajamas before climbing under the covers.

Kagome rested her head into her feather pillow, and snuggled into the groove her body had made in the mattress over the past nine years. She watched as the light in her room grew dimmer because of the sun's absence from the sky.

She was hungry, and she was thirsty, but she wanted to savor every moment of her last night in Kyoto... as pathetic as it sounded. She was just glad that no one came to "check up" on her. She didn't think she could articulate actual words to someone's face.

She tossed and turned until well after dark until she fell into a dreamless sleep, and that night she was not disturbed... No one came smoking outside her window...

Another sign of abnormality.

* * *

"Let me get this straight," Sesshoumaru said from behind his desk. He folded his hands and looked across the wooden surface at two of his younger employees. "You constructed a housing development without my consent? I only wanted a house for my siblings to stay in, not another – "

"Actually, uh, Sir... we had authority to, uh, build from the... um, late President Higurashi." One of the construction workers managed to say while his comrade nodded in agreement.

"This completely contradicts our 'Save the Animals!' philosophy..." Sesshoumaru's ocher eyes scanned the file that he had picked out from a cabinet in his desk and the sounds of workers and the rumble of trolleys could be heard beyond his office door in the silence. The young workers tensed up slightly when they saw Sesshoumaru raise an eyebrow and close the manila folder. "How long have you been working on this project?"

The two teenagers looked at each other in silence and one replied, "I'd have to say... um, about ten months nearly." He thought again for a moment and then nodded.

"So I'm assuming it's finished?" Sesshoumaru questioned.

"O-oh yes, Sir... it's done. T-there are already, um, some people moving into a new house tomorrow..."

"I see... " The youkai said slowly in response. "And my requested home was built as well?"

"Yes, Sir. Everything's there."

"Anything else I should know?" Sesshoumaru asked, seeing a sign of secrecy in each of the teenager's faces.

The two employees shifted guiltily in their seat and moved their gaze downwards to look at their knees. "W-we meant to tell you, uh... Sir, but we... we kinda had to make our own, uh, billboard thing with the name of the... development."

"I see no harm in that." Sesshoumaru opened the filing drawer under his desk and slid the folder back inside. "As long as it didn't use more money than was necessary."

"Oh no! We made it ourselves... We've both taken some courses on photography in school... so, uh... we kinda knew w-what we were doin'..." He trailed off and nudged his friend, who took out a piece of paper from his belt and unrolled it. After smoothing it out on the desktop, he handed it to Sesshoumaru with trembling fingers.

The youkai glanced at it briefly and then slapped it face-up on the table top. "What is this?"

It was a photograph, obviously. And Sesshoumaru found it absolutely repulsive.

It featured a bright meadow of sunflowers, rolling green hills, and a clear sky. In fact, the words 'Sunny Meadows' were printed in thin curvy letters on the top of the page, but that wasn't what disgusted Sesshoumaru. Although the background was clearly an unprofessional photograph, his attention was focused in the center where he saw himself, or rather one of his employees dressed as him, smiling happily and collecting flowers in a basket in a rather girly manner. He could even see the subject's original hair under the silken wig which was being blown off by a fan that was barely visible on the top right corner.

The youkai look clearly contradicted the look of feminine innocence that the billboard clearly attempted to portray.

At that point, two things went through Sesshoumaru's mind. The second being that he knew it was a complete waste of money. With that horrid scene bordering the housing development, he knew that he would be lucky if someone even considered moving into one of the houses there. The first thing was a realization of a blow to his personal pride. He knew he would never live it down.

"This just will not do. Start over," Sesshoumaru said icily.

"We can't. It's already up..." His employees winced when he glared coldly at each of them in turn, but they couldn't help but share grins when he turned away.

In most cases, Sesshoumaru would have just torn the whole project down out of spite and made the two rebuild every house by hand by themselves simply because he had enough money. The only problem in this case was that a family was actually moving in, and there was nothing he could do at that point.

"Fine," he said, standing up and turning his back on the two younger males. "Just leave it. You two are dismissed."

Both of them let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Ma'am." One of them said unconsciously.

Sesshoumaru turned around to face them. "Out!" he growled with a violent hand gesture towards the door, and the both of them scurried out of the office, tripping on their own feet.

The demon decided that he could deal with them later. He current problem was that his dignity would certainly receive a kick in the balls once the rest of the company got wind of the infamous billboard. Meanwhile, those two dunderheads would probably be treated like heroes... Gods among men. The thought made Sesshoumaru smirk in mild amusement. He wondered why he even had the patience to even hire a couple of college kids to work for him. Maybe he was going soft.

But why did his good karma have to run out?

* * *

Kagome piled her old folded up school uniform on top of a small bundle of clothes. She sighed, looking at it one last time before folding all four sides of the cardboard box together. As she taped it tightly shut, realization finally sunk in. There really wasn't any way she could escape from moving.

Save probably theft and murder... but she wasn't that desperate.

Her sheets and blankets were boxed up inside a smaller container. They were sitting on top of a third box that held everything else she cared about. Books, mostly, and some other random junk she had tossed in to take up the rest of the available space. She moved all of the boxes by her door for the movers to pick up and carry downstairs. She wasn't in the mood to make their job easier by transporting them herself.

Kagome glanced at her watch. It was nearly eleven-thirty, and since she had slept in until ten, everything had already been packed away and moved onto the porch once she woke up. The first time she saw all of her family's belongings, she was mildly surprised to see that everything of importance could fit into one small moving truck. However, she had never really thought too much of material things until now. She assumed they'd be unaccepted in a rich neighborhood if they didn't have more junk.

The teenager sat down on her stripped bed and just stared blankly into space for a while, letting random images and words cross her mind. Her brain was stewing and flashbacks of her life in Kyoto began flashing in front of her eyes. Because it sounded so close to the description a person feels before death, Kagome almost laughed out loud.

_**Flashback**_

_"Kagome! Get out of that tree now!"_

_A six-year-old Kagome Higurashi was nestled in between two of the larger branches in the old tree outside. "No, I don't wanna eat brussel sprouts, Daddy!"_

_"Then I'll just have to climb up there and get you!" Her dad began to climb the tree and Kagome tried to climb further away, but the nearest branch was far beyond her grasp. She laughed when her father caught her around the middle and tickled her. "I'm not sure if you got your adventurous side from your mom or me, but you'll have fun exploring it later."_

_Kagome giggled and sat down next to her father on the large limb. "I hope I got it from you... I wanna find fossils just like you when I grow up!" she squeaked happily._

_The man beside her laughed and took off the shark tooth necklace he had around his throat. He fastened it around Kagome's neck. "That was the first artifact I ever found," he said. "It'll help you eat those brussel sprouts without fear!" His humorous heroic voice always made Kagome laugh._

_"Thank you, Daddy."_

_"I have to go on a trip this weekend, but just for a few days," her father said, more serious this time. "I want you to keep that necklace."_

_His daughter nodded. "Where are you going?"_

_"Oh, just south Japan, but a few fossils were found there and our plan is to dig up the dirt and rustle up some more."_

_Kagome shifted. "Do you ever get scared? What if the fossils attack you?"_

_Her dad laughed again. "No, no, they're just remains of living creatures. By digging them up, we can find out more about what the world was like and what kinds of animals lived here before there were people."_

_"You're good at telling stories!"_

_Kagome and her dad smiled at each other._

_"You bet I am," he said. "Now, let's go inside and have some dinner._

_He climbed down first and carried Kagome to the ground once she was close enough to the bottom. Then, the two of them walked hand-in-hand to the house._

_**End Flashback**_

Kagome unconsciously fingered the shark tooth she had pinned to a link in her watch after the necklace broke, and she began to lean backward. She was knocked out of her daydreams when the back of her head introduced itself to the wall. She shot straight up to find that a mover was exiting the room with her boxes in his arms. It was then that she realized she hadn't seen her mother and Souta all morning... Part of her wished that they left without her. However, her dreams were shattered when her little brother ran into the bedroom.

Speak of the devil.

"Mom says it's time to go," he panted, slightly out of breath from running up the stairs. His face was flushed and his shoelaces were untied.

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "And what were you doing to make yourself so tired?" She stood up and began walking towards the door.

"I was chasing Buyo. For a fat cat, he's pretty fast." Souta pointed down the hall at a pet carrier that undoubtedly had their obese feline crammed inside. "I need you to carry it downstairs... I might drop him." Without another word, Souta left Kagome at the top of the stairs and she walked slowly to her cat and hoisted him up, grunting as she struggled to carry the pet taxi with only one arm. She thought it wiser to use her other arm to keep balance by using the stair railing.

_Jesus Christ! _she thought to herself. _This thing must weigh at least twenty pounds!_

With a lot of effort, Kagome managed to carry the cat down the stairs and out onto the front porch.

"You alright, Ma'am?"

Kagome turned around to face a young man about her age wearing a uniform with the logo for the moving company. _Probably needs some extra gas money._ Kagome mused. "Yea, I'm fine. Could you carry this to the car for me?" She gestured to the pet carrier on the ground as the feline inside stretched luxuriously.

The young man smiled and Kagome noticed that he had a gold tooth. "Of course. That's why I get paid." As he carried Buyo the rest of the way to the car, Kagome flexed her arm muscles to make sure that she didn't pull anything.

She frowned. That guy was hauling boxes just to probably pay for three square meals everyday. How Kagome would have loved to help him out... or better yet, trade lives with him. To her, living on the edge sounded kind of fun sometimes.

"Hey!" she yelled, running to catch up to the guy who was still carrying her pet. Ignoring his protesting, she shoved a crumpled twenty dollar bill that was found in her pocket into his hand. When he looked at her in puzzlement, Kagome replied by saying, "Trust me, I don't need it."

* * *

It had been four and a half hours and Kagome was still stuck in the passenger seat of her mother's small automobile with her head pressed against the cool window, watching the white lines on the road pass by repetitively as she listened to the drone of the car on the highway. Distantly, she heard her brother repeatedly ask if they were there yet and her mother's response of 'No' each time.

After a few minutes, Kagome's head began to spin from the speed of the white lines, and instead she focused on the small trees that lined the side of the road. Because they were further away, she didn't feel quite so nauseous when they passed by. Eventually, though, the even, unnatural spacing between the foliage annoyed Kagome so much that she stopped staring outside and began fiddling with the radio and the air conditioner.

She was actually having fun and her brother was laughing as she turned the volume up and down to make one of the songs she hated sound distorted.

"Kagome, that's enough!" The first words Ms. Higurashi spoke to her daughter all morning.

Her mother shot her a warning look and Kagome turned the radio off. Just then, the car veered right and took an exit to the city of Hiroshima. As the car passed though the modern suburbs, Kagome couldn't help but feel mildly disgusted at all the organization of the driveways and front lawns.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Higurashi family came to the entrance of a new housing development; Sunny Meadows. Glancing at the billboard just outside the first street inside, Kagome couldn't help but laugh at the hideous picture of a grown man skipping in a field of sunflowers.

_At least these people have a sense of humor. _she thought to herself.

The development was pretty big, and Kagome was amazed at how many left and right turns they took to reach their destination. She tried to count, but got lost after seven. Finally, the rickety vehicle pulled up to the driveway of number nine, Yamamai Court.

Kagome stepped out as soon as the car came to a stop and groaned as she lifted her arms over her head to stretch. The light was bright so a hand automatically went up to shield her eyes against the sun's merciless rays. She heard the low rumble of the moving van as it trundled to a stop near the curb at the end of the driveway of her new house.

The rest of the family stepped onto the driveway as well and Kagome indistinctly thought she heard Souta whisper: "Holy shit!" It was at that moment when the teenager got a good first look at her new house.

If they could afford a mansion that fancy, she knew that by next week her wardrobe of jeans and tee shirts would probably be traded in for a closet full of Liz Claiborne brand cardigans and skirts.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Comments? I know 'Yamamai Court' sounds weird, but my mom was watching the spelling bee on TV the other day and that was one of the words. It was first Japanese word I could think of. Lol. I think it's some kind of worm or something... I dunno. And forgive me, for I have no knowledge about the distances between Kyoto and Hiroshima. For now, just go along with it.

I'm actually surprised how smoothly this is going so far. I usually start a story and then quit after half a chapter... Hopefully that won't happen this time!

Anyway, all reviews are appreciated.


	3. Number Eight

**Author's Note:** Oh my God! I didn't give up yet! It's a new record! -Throws confetti- I think the plot actually starts developing a little bit here, so... hopefully it won't be as boring as the first two chapters. But really, I'm so sorry for the long wait! I've had a stressful week in school... too much homework, and I so wisely procrastinated. xD

Anyway, please excuse all the horrible grammar! Like I said in the last chapter, my old laptop doesn't have word so I have to spell check everything myself while using old, sucky wordpad. Lol.

**Disclaimer:** Trust me on this. If I owned Inuyasha, Kikyo wouldn't keep coming back to life.

* * *

**The Thought That Counts**

**Chapter 3**

**Number Eight

* * *

**

"Well," Miss Higurashi said, breaking the tensed silence and getting over the initial shock of seeing the new house for the very first time. "Standing out here on the driveway won't do us any good." She picked up a box and a suitcase that had been left on the driveway by the moving men and made her way up to the elaborate front porch after giving her children a small smile of encouragement.

Kagome knew for a fact that even her mother had no clue just what the mansion would look like. It was evident when her eyes widened at the first glance. Truth be told, the younger Higurashi thought it shared a similar appearance to that of a castle, although more modern and with indoor plumbing.

Both her and her brother tried to crane their necks over the evenly cut emerald hedges that framed the front lawn to see where their mother had disappeared to. Unfortunately, the well-pruned willow trees and rose bushes obstructed their view. Both siblings had their mouths slightly agape, and the two of them still found it hard to believe that it was where they were going to live.

"Should we, uh... go inside?" Souta asked his sister, sounding as though he wondered whether they were allowed to touch anything or not... It all looked so perfect. Kagome, whose voice wasn't working nearly as well as her brother's, answered with a vigorous nod.

The two of them both grabbed a cardboard box and walked cautiously up the brick pathway, careful not to tread on anything other than the slabs of stone beneath their feet. Kagome deliberately slowed down her pace, letting her brother go on up ahead of her. She took the extra time to just admire the scenery.

The grass was evenly cut and it looked so fresh and spongy, like the grass on a clean baseball field. With slight hesitation, she bent down and ran her hand over the flexible bristles. It felt dewy and delicious on her palm, almost bouncy, and she made a mental note to just try to lay in the middle of the yard sometime in the near future.

Looking around the rest of the front garden, Kagome noted the evenly spaced sections of shade from the overhanging branches of their personal grove. One of them even had a white wooden swing swaying in the fragrant breeze. On the opposite side of the path, there was an elliptical pond sprouting with water lilies and cattails. A fountain was trickling peacefully in the center as dragonflies floated around lazily.

The one thing that captured Kagome's attention the most was that the yard was large and _green_... floral, filled with botanic scent of spring unlike the brown bristly backyard in Kyoto. The oh-so-familiar thistles were replaced with roses and the dirt and weeds were swapped with a carpet of green turf.

It seemed so... unnatural... surreal almost.

The teenager frowned in thought, gazing unfocused at the landscape. When she heard her brother beckoning to her from the porch, however, she snapped out of her daydream and continued up to the front steps with the box back up in her arms.

When she reached the front door, she noticed that the whole porch was covered in shade from the vines that hung down gracefully from a wooden frame above everything. She nearly tripped over the petite table sitting off to her right as she made her way forward. She was staring in silent awe, and she hadn't even gotten inside the actual house yet.

Kagome followed her brother through the entrance and nearly died of shock when she first glimpsed the inside. She was lucky there was nothing breakable in the box she was carrying because it landed at her feet with a soft "fump" a second later. Souta, who was a few yards ahead of her, turned around to ask: "Are we royalty now?"

Normally, Kagome would've laughed out loud at her brother's idiotic question, but it didn't seem too unlikely at the moment.

She had seen pictures of the California State Capitol building in some her old textbooks, and the new mansion shared and uncanny resemblance. It was almost a miniature replica, although lacking the dome at the center and floating cherubs on the ceiling. Yes... it was much more modern.

"Kagome!" Kagome heard her mother call from the other end of the entrance hall. "Please come in here!"

With slow footsteps, said girl walked towards the sound of her mom's voice. When she reached the end of the passage, she was greeted with the dining room. It looked average, but the room was twice as large, and the table was nearly twice as long. She saw her mother and her brother standing at the end closest to her and quickly strolled over to where they were standing.

"Oh, good," Miss Higurashi said, looking at her daughter. "You're here." Kagome nodded and exhaled sharply through her nose in response, still glancing around the room. "I just wanted to let you know that both of you will be starting school tomorrow." She handed Kagome and her brother a sheet of paper. "Here are your new schedules. Now both of you can go pick out your bedrooms... Or just explore the house some more. It's pretty big."

Kagome thought that was an understatement.

"If we can even find the stairs." Souta piped up, glancing hopefully around the room for a sign that could point him in the right direction.

Their mother smiled warmly at him. "I'm sure you will." She ruffled his black hair briefly and exited the room to take care of some of her own business.

With that said, Kagome and her brother dropped off the boxes they were carrying and began looking for the passage to the upper floors in silence. It took a good ten minutes, but soon enough, Kagome and Souta found the stairs, and she was standing in the doorway of her new, selected bedroom.

Yes... there was the silk as expected and her personal bathroom. Porcelain sinks, the ceramic bathtub, and such... It even came with shampoo in it and Kagome was immediately reminded of a hotel with all the complementary toiletries. The furniture was all new and polished, so Kagome laid down on her already made bed and looked at the ceiling deep in thought.

The next hour or so seemed to fly by in absolute silence. Once again, Kagome's head was spinning with questions, and she was still having trouble absorbing everything that had happened so far that day. Everything seemed so surreal.

She had always hated having questions that needed answering and would have much preferred to lie down and take a long nap without having too many thoughts haunting her mind. It gave her a headache. Several boxes had been unpacked during her time alone, and most of the contents were nestled safely on shelves or in dressers.

There was a knock on her closed bedroom door. "Kagome?" said a voice that the girl recognized as her mother's.

Kagome got off of her bed with a bounce on the mattress and pretended to be still unpacking. "Come in," she replied to her mother who was still outside the room.

"I just saw some new neighbors move into house number eight from the window. It looks like a daughter about your age and her parents." Miss Higurashi said as she walked in through the open door. "I think you should go over and introduce yourself. This might be a good chance to make some friends."

Kagome was not in the mood to argue, so she faked a smile. "Okay, Mom. Let me just brush my hair and I'll head right over."

Her mother smiled and left the teenager to make herself presentable. Once the door closed, Kagome's smile faded a bit. Her mother struck a chord there whenever she brought up the subject of friends. It always made her remember that she was, in fact, friendless, and it always made her self-conscious. She wondered if she was abnormal or something.

She sighed and stood up. "Oh well, better get this over with." Dragging her feet, she walked out of her room and down the stairs.

* * *

"Sesshoumaru, you asshole! Help me with these!" Inuyasha brushed his silver locks of hair over one shoulder and hoisted up several large boxes on the other.

The full demon turned to face his younger half-brother and glared at him icily. "Inuyasha, you know damn well that I'm a very busy man. I have work to attend to. Anyway, I purchased this house for you and Rin, so it's your problem."

"What!" Inuyasha shouted, turning a little red with anger and dropping the stack of cardboard boxes that had been nestled on his shoulder. "How the hell am I supposed to move all of these boxes in by myself!"

"Be creative." And with a final turn and sweep of his long hair, Sesshoumaru left Inuyasha alone on the doorstep to deal with the moving process on his own.

"Son of a bitch," Inuyasha muttered under his breath, kicking several packages down the hallway and into the kitchen.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Inuyasha kicked the wall in the kitchen to help vent his anger, chipping off some of the white paint in the process. Stomping, he made his way huffily to the front door. In one swift movement, he flung it open and raised an eyebrow at the girl standing on the front porch.

"Hello!" she said happily with her hands behind her back and an over-exaggerated smile on her face. "I'm Kagome Higurashi... My family and I just moved in – "

"Whatever you're selling, we don't want any," Inuyasha snapped. He made a move to start closing the door, but Kagome held it open before he could fully shut it.

"Listen, jerk! I'm trying to be a good neighbor!" She made eye contact with Inuyasha for the first time to send him a furious glare, but instead, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "You're not real..."

The long white hair and untamed bangs hovering lightly over two sharp amber eyes gave the boy in front of her an almost mystical appearance. Kagome found herself feeling jealous of his beautiful tresses, and she noticed two small, rounded triangles peeking over the top of his head. They looked suspiciously like ears. Feeling as though he might be dangerous, she began to hyperventilate.

Then she screamed out of shock.

"Stop screaming already, girl!" Inuyasha said, stepping forward and clamping the palm of his hand over her mouth firmly to stifle the noise. He looked around as if making sure no one else had heard her shrieks of terror.

Kagome's eyes darted around madly as the boy dragged her roughly in through the door. Scenes of torture from horror movies flitted briefly across her mind, and she shut her eyes in a futile attempt to block them out. She was scared... to say the least, and she had a distinct feeling that the end was near. Finally, coming to her senses, she elbowed him in the gut and kicked him in the shin once he released her arm and mouth.

"You idiot! What the hell was that for?" he shouted angrily, slightly winded from Kagome's onslaught. He rubbed his abused abdomen with one of his hands and then focused his gaze on the offender.

"Where you just expecting me to let you grab me and have your way?" Kagome responded rather loudly, taking several steps back from Inuyasha. "My mom said that you were supposed to be a girl!"

Inuyasha gave her a look of utter disbelief. "What the heck _are_ you!" He asked rudely, eyeing her jean-clad form and closing the front door quietly. The lighting inside was dimmer with the absence of sun from outside, and Kagome found herself in a hallway very similar to the one at her house.

"What the heck are _you_?" she shouted back, coming to the conclusion that long white hair on a teenage guy was definitely unnatural.

"I'm not a homicidal maniac if that's what you're thinking, bitch!" Inuyasha and Kagome began to circle each other, glaring the whole time. Inuyasha flexed his hand, and Kagome noticed the inch-long nails on each finger. She gulped noticeably. He could slash her up without any problem, and he seemed to realize her uneasiness. "If I was a killer, why would I wait to murder you? With these claws I could tear you apart."

She gulped again. "Well, fine, you're not a murderer! But you're obviously not human," she said, regaining some of her confidence and composure.

"Well no duh! At least you're smart enough to figure _that_ out," Inuyasha said, obviously figuring that she wasn't the sharpest pencil in the box.

"What are you then?" she said demandingly to her only companion. "You can't blame me for being a little freaked out." She held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart to emphasize her point.

Inuyasha scoffed. "I'm a hanyou. And you freaked out more than a _little_." He held up his fingers as well to prove his own point.

Kagome forced herself to ignore his sarcastic remark and replied instead by saying: "What's a hanyou?" Her face was a picture of pure, innocent puzzlement.

So many thoughts were running through her mind. She had no clue what a hanyou was, but it sure as hell sounded more powerful than a human. Her grandpa had probably mentioned them more than once when he was alive. If only she had listened!

Her fear was gone now and was replaced with her natural anger and curiosity. She felt like she _needed_ to ask him questions, and she decided the only way to ask him was to be smarter and quicker at interrogating than he could be at avoiding answering.

"A hanyou is a half demon, you dimwit," Inuyasha responded roughly, getting irritated at her strong perseverance. "Don't say you didn't study those ancient Japanese legends in school."

Kagome put her hands on the hips of her jeans. "Ok, let's get something straight here. My name is Kagome Higurashi! Not bitch, or girl, or dimwit. Get that through your thick head, you jerk!" She had walked up to him and was prodding him in the chest with every word she said. "If you had let me finished talking when I first came over here, you would already know my name, and you would already know that I just moved here and haven't even started school yet!" She turned away. "I start tomorrow if you were wondering."

"Well my name's Inuyasha! Not jerk, but I don't hear you saying it right either!" Inuyasha huffed right back at the girl, folding his arms smugly over the red hooded sweatshirt that he was wearing.

"Oh... and I'm supposed to know you name as soon as I walk in? Personally, I think 'Jerk' suits you much better!" Kagome folded her arms as well, and they both shared a glare of mutual disgust.

"You suck!" Inuyasha whined bluntly like a small child, running out of clever insults and comebacks to throw out at her.

"Ok, fine, I suck. Whatever! Anyway, I've just gotta ask you some questions." Her voice had suddenly changed to a "take charge" tone.

"Who says I have to listen to you, wench?" He said just to make her mad, but she seemed unaffected by his rude remark and continued on as if she hadn't been interrupted.

"Look!" Kagome replied angrily. "If you don't answer me, I'll start screaming again! In this hall, who knows how much it will echo!" She gestured around her at the enormous ceiling above the two of them, and Inuyasha got the point.

He winced and touched the ears on top of his head delicately, imagining her high-pitched yells again. He truly didn't know if he could survive if she started up. "Fine, I'll talk, but then you leave!" He spat at her.

"Ok! Fine!" Kagome said in response. She rubbed her chin in thought before finally asking Inuyasha, "Do you have any siblings or anything? I couldn't help but notice that it's really quiet in here."

"I have an asshole half-brother and an adopted sister. What of it?" Inuyasha snapped at Kagome.

"Jeez. You really need to learn how to chill out." The black haired girl sighed in exasperation at the bratty boy.

"Don't lecture me, woman. You're not my mother!"

"How old are you then?" Kagome had figured that his face looked young enough to be a high school student, but then again, the white hair may have indicated otherwise.

He rolled his eyes. "Same as you probably. Chances are you'll go to the same school as I do." He inwardly groaned. _Just what I need... someone who does nothing but nag and nag and nag..._

Kagome frowned slightly. "Well won't that be... fun..." At the moment, the idea of school sounded highly displeasing to the girl.

"Tch... like hell it'll be fun!" Inuyasha obviously felt the exact same way as she did.

"I was being sarcastic. Jeez... I can't believe parents would allow their kid to grow up to be so stupid and dense... Where are your parents anyway?" Kagome inquired, surprised that Inuyasha was supposedly the only one in the house. She hadn't heard any voices during the whole seventeen minutes she had been there.

"None of your damn business!" Inuyasha walked towards the front door and opened it. "You can go now!" Once she didn't budge, he urged her by saying: "Please... leave!"

At this point, Kagome was genuinely intrigued. There was something about his parents that he didn't want her to know, and it only encouraged her to dig deeper for the truth. Perhaps they were criminals or drug dealers... She laughed inside her head, but paid attention when she heard Inuyasha tell her to leave again.

"Ok, ok, I'll leave in a minute... Just one more question!" Kagome practically pleaded the hanyou.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes slowly and Kagome took his action as a response to ask away if she had to.

"When are your parents going to be back? I'd love to talk to them and get to know them. Maybe I'll figure out why their son is such a blockhead."

She thought she saw a glimmer of sadness in Inuyasha's eyes before he suddenly smiled a little too hard. He put a friendly arm around her shoulder to which Kagome made a face. "Well, it was nice having you around. Maybe we'll chat again sometime soon... and if you know what's good for you, you'll stay outta my business." Kagome hadn't noticed that he steered her right back onto the patio until he waved "good-bye" to her and slammed the large door in her face with more force than was necessary.

Yeah, she had pissed him off.

After banging on the front door for a good two and a half minutes, Kagome sighed in defeat and turned around to walk back to her own house. The sun was already starting to go down and a beautiful array of oranges and pinks was splattered across the sky.

She felt almost guilty. It seemed that talking about his parents was a touchy subject and no matter how much she already disliked Inuyasha, Kagome wasn't heartless enough to intentionally bring up bad memories. He had hurt her, and she had the red marks on her arm to prove it, but he was probably the one who ended up hurting in the end.

Oh, the irony.

Kagome was scared yet again by her mother just as she opened her own front door. "How'd it go?" her mom asked as soon as she walked in, and Kagome got the impression that she had been on the edge of her seat, waiting for news of the visit to the neighbors ever since she had first left the house. "Was she a nice girl?"

Feeling guilty again, Kagome decided to blame everything on her mother since she was not in the mood to deal with her own problems. "Mom, how could you embarrass me? That kid was a boy not a girl. He's also a complete jerk and I'm never going to talk to him again!" Generally Kagome hated immaturity, but she somehow linked Inuyasha's actions to her mom. After all, if she hadn't moved, she wouldn't even know he existed.

Leaving her mom looking shocked, Kagome ran swiftly up the towering staircase to her bedroom. With a fluid motion, the door was soon shut and locked. She wanted to be alone for a while... At least until the next morning...

Damn... she almost totally forgot about school.

Before getting into bed, Kagome spared a quick glance to her schedule that was crumpled on the floor near the foot of her bed. She didn't really care about it, but it served to try and forget about Inuyasha for three whole minutes.

_Science... math... English... history... art... and PE..._ she read. Nothing special. She wondered why the school was held in such high regard. She had the exact same thing back in Kyoto, but here it was nearly twelve thousand dollars to get the same education as she got before moving away.

Kagome pulled out her pajamas and pillow from one of the boxes and crawled under the covers of her bed. She figured she might as well get a good night's sleep.

* * *

It was nearly two in the morning, and Kagome still couldn't bring herself to go to sleep. The new bed was giving her grief because it hadn't been broken in, but it was mainly because of her talk with Inuyasha earlier that day that kept her eyes open and the gears in her head turning wildly about.

After the first sleepless hour, she had started counting sheep, but after she got to about five of them, she kept picturing little Inuyashas prancing over the imaginary fence with their arms crossed and miniscule scowls on their little faces.

She had tried many different techniques to try to forget it and go to bed, but her curious side just couldn't help but wonder about Inuyasha and his parents. Listening to classical music, shifting positions on her bed, and slowing down her breathing had all failed to put her to sleep. As hard as she tried, her pulse didn't seem to go down. If anything, it sped up so much that she thought a major vein or artery would pop.

It was an adrenaline rush man!

She couldn't figure it out. The idea of a hanyou was still fuzzy in her mind, but she also concluded that he had to be part human as well. She assumed that most of his anatomy was identical to that of a normal person. He had a nose, legs, arms... She had to admit to herself that the golden eyes and silver hair were pretty cool. If she had the choice, she wouldn't mind having the odd eye and hair combination.

Honestly, Kagome couldn't ever remember being so fascinated with one person's problems before in her life. So she continued to theorize about Inuyasha's life, disregarding one far-fetched idea after another while continuing to toss and turn on the new mattress. Eventually, sheer boredom finally got a yawn out of the excited girl and she rolled over onto her stomach in hope of catching forty winks.

"Oh well... it's not like I'm going to see him ever again." she said to herself. If he hated her as much as she thought, he wouldn't ever want to talk to her again. She shrugged before closing her eyes and drifting off into a fitful slumber...

But she couldn't have been more wrong.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yeah, this chapter feels a little rushed to me too. I was just too lazy to add more! That was a weird chapter for some reason. I couldn't stop thinking about the great hall in Harry Potter when I described the entrance to the kitchen. Anyway, please post a review. I like reading them, and it's my birthday tomorrow (Feb. 5)! Yep, Superbowl Sunday, but I've always hated football.


	4. Friends

**Author's Notes: **Jeebus Crust... I swear! I'm so sick of waiting for my dad to look at my computer! I decided to just use my sister's computer to write. So... here's the long awaited chapter four. Sorry for making you guys wait a billion years!

If you forgot what happened in the previous three chapters: (1) Kagome's family inherited one billions dollars, (2) The Higurashis moved to a new house, and (3) Inuyasha and Kagome met each other for the first time.

Enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer:** Blah blah blah... Copyright... Being Sued... Inuyasha isn't mine... I believe I've covered just about everything.

* * *

**The Thought That Counts**

**Chapter 4**

**Friends**

**

* * *

**

The alarm clock on her bedside table had been blaring for a good fifteen minutes before Kagome's head managed to register the noise. In an uncoordinated motion, she smashed the snooze button with a swing of her arm. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and yawned before finally glancing at the illuminated characters of her clock through bleary eyes. Since her brain was moving utterly slow, she had no idea what "7:34 A.M." meant until the beeping started up again.

She sat bolt upright, and slapped herself awake. "Holy crap!" she said to no one in particular. "Why the hell didn't anyone wake me up!" She clambered out of her bed and left it unmade. "Damnit! School starts in half an hour!" She didn't realize that the socks she pulled on were two different colors, but in her current state, she didn't seem to notice the difference between black and navy blue.

She unbuttoned her pajama top as she walked to the door. She sighed in exasperation when she saw the new school uniform that someone had obviously shoved under the door, and she couldn't help but wonder why they didn't bother to open it instead.

The first time Kagome held out her clothes and caught a glimpse of the dark blue, denim collar of her new uniform, she immediately made a face. The color wasn't horrible, but the thick material looked heavy... and itchy. However, she was thankful that the skirt wasn't much shorter than her knees. At her previous school, she had always been adjusting it to make sure no one could look up her skirt.

After dressing and grieving over the tie on the collar, Kagome ran a comb through her hair several times and prepared to exit the bedroom. On the way, she noticed a mirror on one of the walls. She glanced in it briefly, only registering slightly that the hair would not lay flat on one side of her head.

She nearly ran headfirst into the door on her way out, and after several failed attempts to open it, she finally realized that it was locked. Several things clicked in her brain at that moment as she was eventually able to turn the lock and open the door. _So that's why no one woke me up,_ she thought to herself. She rolled her eyes.

Typical. Getting all worked up about school. Kagome laughed inwardly. She'd probably look like a freak when she walked into class that morning with an obvious purple bruise on her nose. The 'geniuses' over there would probably think she was an idiot for not even being able to open a door.

Kagome passed her brother in the halls, and he gave her a look that clearly said: "Ew." And she normally would've pummeled him for it, but her heart agreed with his unspoken thoughts. She entered the kitchen after unsuccessfully opening several different doors and grabbed a bagel as it popped out of the toaster. With no free hands, she held it in her mouth as she slipped on her shoes, grabbed her backpack, and stuffed her schedule into her pocket.

As Kagome scrambled to the front door, she nearly ran into her mother, who was walking in the opposite direction. Their identical eyes widened after nearly avoiding a collision. "Sorry, Mom!" the teenager replied, kissing her mother on the cheek and rushing out the open front door, combing her tangled hair with her fingers.

The teen adjusted her skirt as she walked out past the beautiful rose bushes and was met by yet another surprise. There was a limo, black and ridiculously shiny, parked at the end of the pathway, and a chauffer with sunglasses was standing by the door with a sign reading "Higurashi."

_Well that's a bit redundant,_ Kagome thought, considering the obvious fact that he was parked outside the Higurashi household. Rather than going to confront the driver about being on her property as her heart had urged her, she instead chose to ignore the young man and made her way down to the pavement with her loafers shuffling every step of the way.

Obviously the money was getting to her mother's head. Of course, what was to be expected after living in an environment that demanded the care of every single penny?

_I'm so glad I wasn't raised like that..._

That was when she heard a pronounced cough coming from behind her. Rather than turning, she ignored it and continued walking...

"Ms. Higurashi." The impatient male voice of the driver caused the hurried girl to turn around rather quickly.

Kagome mouthed "What?" in his direction and tapped her foot impatiently on the sidewalk whilst waiting for an answer. She was slightly surprised to find that the driver looked young, about her age. His shoulder-length hair was pulled into a short ponytail, and his left ear held a single gold hoop. If he had on a robe rather than a suit, he would've resembled the picture of a feudal monk, similar to the one in Kagome's old textbook.

Ha ha.

"Your mother arranged a ride to school for you."

"Oh... well... school's only five miles away." She forced malicious looking grin and said as politely as she could, "I'm in need of a walk anyway. I've heard it can work wonders on your leg muscles."

The chauffer threw his head back and laughed. "My goodness ma'am! School starts in ten minutes!"

_So?_

"Even if your legs become stronger and more shapely than they are now, you'll be seriously late."

Unconsciously, the schoolgirl tried tugging down on her skirt a little more, attempting to hide as much of her exposed flesh as she could. She vaguely wondered if obviously eyeing females was a habit of his.

With another grimace, Kagome allowed herself to be ushered inside the back of fancy vehicle by the young man ("My name's Miroku, by the way").

This must have cost a fortune. Kagome mused when she got herself settled on one of the velvet-lined seats in the back of the limousine. When the door closed behind her, she realized, _Oh yeah, we're rich. How convenient._

Without anything else to do, Kagome opened the cooler that would take the place of a glove compartment in a normal car and searched for something to ingest. After only seeing sparkling water among the mounds of cubed ice, she thought the choice was obvious. She had a sudden image of herself burping in math class, but shook it off.

Whatever. It would give some of those immature brats a good laugh.

"Are you comfortable back there, Ms. Higurashi?" Miroku's voice floated in through the rolled down divider between himself and Kagome, who was fiddling with the air conditioner switch just above her head.

Said girl flinched. "Dude, just 'Kagome.'" Such formal titles were unknown to her, and the idea of adding a "Ms." to the front of her name had her slightly unnerved.

She could just picture a boyish grin on the young man's face. "All right then... Kagome. You must be new around here. It's a pretty fancy part of town, isn't it?" He revved up the engine of the limo.

Kagome groaned in the backseat, but she laughed despite herself. "Was I that obvious?" She rolled up the ends of her sleeves which were steadily sliding down over her hands.

Miroku chuckled heartily. "Most people in this town would refuse to walk to their own neighbor's house. Trust me, after driving for two and a half years, I feel like I know most of these people more than they know me." He lifted his foot of the gas slightly to make a wide turn onto his desired street.

The high-schooler snorted in disapproval.

"Yeah, I felt the same way when I moved here once my father got a job offer as a CEO for some expensive brand of electronics..." He shrugged. "He became filthy, stinking rich."

"So why do you drive this car then?" Kagome asked, genuinely intrigued. She seated herself closer to the front of the vehicle, rather than the very back. One would think that a son of a millionaire would be going to prep school rather than driving around snotty students for twenty bucks an hour.

"Well, of course the money went to his head. After making his first million bucks, he ditched me and my mother. He assumed we were holding him back, so he dumped five hundred bucks on us and ran off with some woman he had been seeing behind our backs." He shrugged again. "Here I am now, making ten bucks an hour."

Kagome traced the label on the green glass bottle of her water, creating a clear strip of green by removing some of the condensed water droplets on the outside of the icy container. "I'm sorry..." She said with her head down, and her eyes on her knees.

"It's not your fault. What can I say? The man was exceptionally greedy. What would you say to your dad?"

"You're lucky. I only had my dad for a few years..."

Miroku, who wasn't expecting an answer, didn't respond. Kagome assumed that the conversation was over, so she proceeded to finish the water in her hand before they got to the school.

Suddenly she choked on some of the bubbles in her drink when Miroku stopped roughly at a red light. Coughing, she wondered to herself, _What will people say when I pull up in a limo?_ The thought had just struck her, and she didn't want to be hated on the very first day.

Kagome rolled down the nearest window to her and inhaled a breath of fresh air. Her hair was whipped behind her, and she got a clear view of the school looming nearer each second. Her first thought was that it looked very clean, more like a museum or library than a school. It was plain but tall and elegant with a marble staircase out front.

As the car pulled to a stop in the front of the building, Kagome realized her assumptions were incorrect. _How could I be so stupid? I'm not the only kid with cash in this town._ Sure enough, there were at least three dozen different colored limousines dropping off kids at various entrances of the school.

Miroku apparently heard her gulp loudly behind her, because he turned around and said, "I'll pick you up right here at two forty-five sharp." He smiled. "Good luck."

Kagome clambered out by herself, feeling strangely uncoordinated. She waved weakly to Miroku as the car drove past her, around the corner, and out of sight. She let out a loud sigh, causing some of the tousled bangs hanging over her eyes to flutter up momentarily before flopping back down again. Taking a deep breath, she made her way up the marbled stairs, hoping to the heavens that she wasn't going to get lost.

The inside looked more like an executive office building than anything else. _Hardly an orthodox school,_ she thought, adjusting the straps on her backpack. Upon looking up she noticed that there had to be at least five floors, undoubtedly housing about a dozen classrooms each.

_Shit._

There were students dressed like clones stampeding in every direction, and the swarm of blue pants and skirts temporarily overwhelmed Kagome. She tried several times to catch the attention of several passing peers to ask for directions, but to no avail. No one seemed to care, or notice for that matter, that she was in "distress."

Thankfully, she saw what looked like an information booth just outside the spinning doors she just went through. She headed over to it in relief. She found a stern looking woman with horn-rimmed glasses and obviously dyed red hair piled in a bun on her head shuffling through the contents of a filing cabinet. "Hi, I'm – "

"Kagome Higurashi... right?" The woman's voice reminded her of a cat walking on a piano.

"Um... yeah," Kagome said, surprised. "Can you tell me – "

"Where your first class is?" She said without looking up from the pile of papers and manila folders on her desk.

Kagome found the lady just a little bit freaky, and she got the impression that she was not the right person to make upset. Unfortunately, she had a feeling that the woman didn't like her already. "Yeah... where's – "

"Mr. Barns is in room forty-one, on the third floor."

The teenager was mildly surprised to hear that her teacher had an American name, but she thanked the woman at the booth for her help, received a map, a slip of paper allowing her to pick up her books, and a complementary tin of mints, and spun of her heel and towards the stairs. She popped a few mints in her mouth and cringed at the obvious toothpaste flavor that was spreading steadily through her mouth. She tossed the rest in the first garbage can she passed.

Suddenly, Kagome heard a bell ring from somewhere above her head. That was when she realized she was alone on the staircase.

Guess she'd just have to go pick up her textbooks after class.

* * *

"Sesshoumaru made you move?" Sango asked, her brown eyes shining with curiosity. "Why? I thought you were doing fine in your old house."

Rin looked at her friend's disbelieving face. "It's for his job. You know... VP and all. After the death of owner, he felt it was his 'duty' to go and help out as much as he could."

Their history teacher had yet to enter the classroom, and people were still filing inside, so the steady buzz of student conversation floated lazily around the room. "Sango, it's not like I moved halfway across the country!" Rin laughed in response to her friend's shocked and disturbed face. "You can come over anytime!"

"Is it that new development over there?" She was pointing somewhere to her left and through the walls of the building, which was the exact opposite direction of the other girl's home.

Her friend laughed and then shrugged. "I'll give you the address later. I don't have a pen on me right now." She stuck out her tongue playfully.

Sango was about to respond with a remark to point out her friend's irresponsibility when the door crashed open rather loudly. The talking stopped, and the majority of eyes turned to the offender standing in the doorway.

"Poor thing," Rin heard Sango say next to her.

Indeed. The girl looked utterly lost. Her black hair was messy, her face was flushed, and she was breathing heavily. Not to mention, her socks were two different colors. Rin and Sango both watched as everyone's head turned to follow her movements through the rows of desks. Their faces were obviously disgusted when a rather busty blond and her groupies shot her furious looks of scorn.

The new girl's shoulders drooped rather noticeably, and she nearly tripped over her feet while grinning awkwardly at all the other students and heading towards the back of the room. Coincidentally, she chose a seat right next to Sango.

"Hey," Sango put a comforting hand on Kagome's shoulder. "You okay?"

Kagome nodded, but obviously her pride had taken a hit, so she slouched in her seat and let out a loud sigh that puffed up her bangs again.

"Don't worry about it," Rin's voice chimed in. She was leaning across Sango's desk in order to better converse with the two of them. "Barns is always late."

"Yeah," Sango agreed. "And by the end of class, everyone will forget that you even exist." But she covered her mouth after finishing the sentence and Rin shot her a "way-to-go" look.

"Never mind about her. She doesn't know what she's talking about most of the time. I'm Rin, by the way." She shook Kagome's hand, ignoring Sango's huffs behind her.

"And I'm Sango."

Kagome shook both of their hands and decided that, based on her first impression, Rin, despite her tanned and athletic disposition, was the more focused of the two. But she was instantly jealous of her companion's appearance: silky straight brown hair, flawless skin, and a figure that was in no way unpleasant to view.

"Hi. I'm – " But Kagome cut herself off, mildly shocked to find that her voice was squeaky. She cleared her throat. "I'm Kagome. I just moved here from a farm in Kyoto." She managed a grin that felt rather foreign to her.

Sango blinked. "What'd you do to get the money? Rob a bank?" That earned her another look from her friend.

Kagome was relieved to hear the talking around the room start up again, indicating that everyone else had forgotten about her bizarre entrance, but she gave the other girl a weird look. "I inherited it..."

"You seem like an oddly... sweet kid. Most girls here are snobs." Rin shrugged. "We'd know. After living here for three years, you tend to get to know some of the people better than you'd like."

Kagome was immediately reminded of her conversation with Miroku only a few minutes prior. "Are you guys sisters?"

Sango laughed. "Us? Heavens no. We just sorta sought asylum in each other. Life is rather demanding at these schools... So we've just stuck together ever since middle school." She put her arm over Rin's shoulders as if to emphasize her point.

"Oh, that's cool," Kagome said. "I've never really been friends with anyone back home, so I don't – "

"It's all right. We felt like that for a while. Feel free to hang with us for a while if you want." Sango smiled reassuringly. "But with a face like yours, I doubt you'll have any trouble finding someone to kill your time." She winked suggestively, and Kagome was unable to hide a blush. She tried to say thanks, but Mr. Barns came into class and silenced all the students. He was a middle-aged man with a hunch and slight limp. He was obviously going bald.

By the time he walked into the classroom, he was already nine minutes late, and the painful process of taking attendance took up another valuable thirteen minutes of learning time. At one point Kagome even questioned to herself what the heck she was doing there.

Mr. Barns cleared his throat with a sound resembling a piece of chalk snapping in half. "Aikawa, Saki?"

"Here."

"Barber, Veronica?"

"Present."

"Carter, Maximillian?"

"Hey."

"Daisuke, Yoji?"

"What up?"

Kagome was mildly surprised at the obvious cultural mix of Japanese and American students. It wasn't something one would normally find in a rural setting like the young Higurashi was used to.

Mr. Barns stopped to fix the glasses that were sliding down his beak-like nose. "Gengi, Aya?"

"Here."

"Gohma, Kikyo?"

"Like, oh my god, here!" Kagome glanced at the girl who had spoken and made a face. A true whore by the look of her.

"Higurashi, Kagome?"

"Yeah, here."

Mr. Barns paused again to clear his throat, and Kagome slammed her head on the desk.

They were all going to be there for a while.

* * *

An hour later, Kagome walked out of her science class talking with her new friends. Mr. Barns was obviously not the most alert teacher alive, because everyone had been conversing during his lectures anyway. And since he almost fell asleep in his own class, several notes folded into paper airplanes flew successfully past his long nose. The blond in the front row had even been applying an excessive amount of mascara to her false eyelashes without his notice.

During class, the three of them had talked about school, life, music, and, briefly, guys.

Apparently Sango and Miroku had some sort of history because she turned beet red when Kagome first mentioned that he was her driver. She and Rin had prodded and jabbed her in the ribs trying to force a confession from her, but stopped as soon as Sango yelled at them and scratched Rin on the back of the hand with her manicured nails.

Rin had scowled and spent the following few minutes nursing her offended appendage.

"So anyway," Kagome said as the trio made their way down the empty staircase (Kagome had gone to introduce herself to the teacher after class, and that took up a good five minutes of break, especially since he asked her to repeat herself several times... obviously very slow on the uptake). "I go next door to introduce myself to him, thinking he's a girl, and he gets all up in my face, calling me a bitch and all that jazz. God, I swear... I wanted to punch his stupid head in. I mean, what did I do to him?"

"Sounds like a real bastard." Sango responded as the three of them headed over to the library to accompany the new girl while she picked up her textbooks.

"Yeah. He's such a jerk! He has these funky dogs ears," she held up a finger on each side of her head for emphasis, "And what's up with his hair?" Kagome ranted. "Its white and long. Rin, why are you so quiet?"

_She can't be referring to Sesshoumaru..._ Rin thought. "Oh, you mean Inuyasha?"

Kagome's hand slipped on the polished handrail, and she nearly tripped over the last two steps on the final flight of stairs. "W-wait... You mean you actually know this asshole?" She couldn't imagine anyone in their right mind bothering to even talk to him.

"Well he goes to this school and... I live with him." She watched in mild amusement as Kagome floundered around for an intelligent response.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** I'm really sorry people. That was not a great chapter. o.o Oh well. I think you can expect more substance in the next few chapters, though. Summer vacation is truly a blessing! And anyway, look forward to seeing more of Kikyo in the next chapter. Yay or nay? You decide. :)

And I forgot to say, I'm sorry this was short. I just wanted to give you guys something to read. Ehhh... I'm going to try my best though to make up for the shortness of this chapter with a much better update next time!

Read and Review!


	5. Enter Kikyou

**Author's Note: **Wow, I feel like such a traitor! I really took my time updating this thing... But I had started it, and then my computer crashed and I had trouble recovering the file... and it was a big mess for a few months. My computer is truly ancient. T-T But I have no excuse after that except for losing inspiration and being lazy... and no one ever likes a lazy author. I honestly don't know when updates will come on this fic, but know that THEY _WILL_ COME. So keep in touch and enjoy the chapter. :D

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha, although cool, is not mine.

* * *

**The Thought That Counts**

**Chapter 5**

**Enter Kikyou

* * *

**

Kagome remained stunned, staring at her newfound friend with disbelief. "W-wait you mean you actually _live_ in the same house as dogboy?" She could not even imagine two people less likely to dwell under the same roof without getting on each other's nerves.

"Yep!" Rin responded with pep, as if it was common knowledge, as the trio stepped through the glass library doors.

"Are you dating him or something?" Kagome said rather loudly, completely ignoring the "Silent" sign on one of the outer panels of the glass door and earning herself several reproachful looks and irritated "shh"s from students as well as the librarian.

"Of course she's not," Sango said, stepping in after Kagome had muttered several apologies to the people at the tables they had passed. "He rarely even talks to us at school, or after school... Actually, he only talks to us at Rin's house."

"What a jerk!" Kagome had to admit to herself that she hadn't really been expecting anything better from someone without the decency to introduce themselves at their first meeting.

"No, really, it's okay. And anyway, no one in their right mind would date that sleezebag. That's a disappointment, considering that almost every girl in this school is either a slut, or really stupid... therefore, _none_ of them are ever in their right mind." Rin paused to laugh and led Sango and Kagome to the back of a line at the registration counter, where the woman at the desk used a different annoying bell to tell a worker in the back which book to bring her each time. "I really don't understand him. He could have any smart, cute girl, but he's only ever had eyes for Kikyou."

"Who's Kikyou?" Kagome asked wanting know all about this Inuyasha, only semi-aware that the whole library was listening to their conversation. It seemed as if the whole school treated him as some sort of celebrity or something. An expensive prep school, and yet everyone seemed full of hot air and thrived only by digging their plastic, pink nails into fresh gossip.

"Well, she's your average snobby person, but she's not a cheerleader which is the _only_ reason why I don't completely hate her." Sango paused, seemingly in thought. "You know what? Now that I think about it, you look a lot like her, except she wears her hair different. Plus she's skanky and down right annoying," she added. Between she and Rin, Sango was the one more likely to catch wind of any gossip around the school.

"Wait..." Kagome said. "I think I know who you're talking about. Was she the girl in class with the red pumps and," she coughed, embarrassed, "breast implants?"

Her two friends laughed loudly, and the entire library told them to be quiet. "That would be her."

"I don't really look like that... do I?" Kagome whispered, almost frightened for the reputation she had that was already going downhill.

"Honestly, if you want my opinion, you could dress up like a slut and be her twin." Rin siggered behind her hand at Sango's remark, and the line in front of them moved up.

Kagome, despite Rin and Sango insisting that Inuyasha was usually a jerk, thought that her first interaction with him hadn't been smooth in any aspect because of the obvious physical similarities between herself and Kikyou... although she refused to believe anything they said about her and Kikyou looking alike. However, before she could make the comment, she found herself at the front of the line.

"Name?" the librarian asked, her strong voice sounding rather like a freight train in the quiet atmosphere of the library.

"Kagome Higurashi." Kagome handed the woman the slip of paper with the names of all the text books she would be needing for the semester, and the woman pulled six large volumes from underneath her desk and set them as quietly as she could on the desk top, which actually wasn't quiet at all, and a few students at nearby tables jumped at the sound. Obviously the staff had prepared for her well ahead of time. After signing a form with a pen chained to the table, she hoisted the books into two arms and turned to her two friends, looking sheepish.

They each took two books respectively out of her grasp and then made their way out into the noisy corridor of the school where they could continue their discussion without eavesdroppers.

"By the way," Rin said as the three girls made their way to Kagome's locker, "Kikyou is very proud of her profession." When Kagome as well as Sango looked confused, she said, "Skirt designing."

The idea of someone as seemingly dim-witted as Kikyou doing anything remotely creative was enough to make Kagome roar with laughter, as she pictured the girl wrapped up in a toga made of a shower curtain. "Seriously?" she and Sango replied simultaneously.

"Yeah!" Rin answered, unable to stop a grin. "It's all Inuyasha ever talks about. He's got no sense of common courtesy at all."

Kagome almost forgot to ask her about Inuyasha. "So, why do you live with him anyway?" As the three of them reached her locker, she swiped her ID card on the scanner and the door popped open with a click. She propped her knee up against the bottom locker to support her books as she put them in one at a time.

"Well, um... all I can say is they felt responsible for my parents death, so they brought me in. And Inuyasha had recently lost his parents also, so living there at first tended towards being morbid. He seemed like quite a disturbed child since then. At least that's all I know... no details or anything," Rin added hastily, but Kagome had an inkling that she knew more than she let on.

"Who's 'they'?" she asked instead, resisting the urge to question her friend further and leading the way over to a deserted table where the three of them sat for the remainder of the break.

"Inuyasha and his half-brother Sesshoumaru," Sango cut in, and Kagome had to smother a laugh as she recalled the billboard at the entrance of their new housing development.

"Although, Sesshoumaru immediately made me his responsibility, which is odd because he usually has problems with... erm... _humans_." Rin lowered her voice noticeably for the last word, and her two friends had to lean in to hear it. "And Inuyasha's rude and not as caring, but he's not as cold-blooded as his brother."

"Uh... I thought you were saying that Sesshoumaru is nice," said a confused Kagome, accepting a homemade cookie that Sango had extracted from her purse. All three of them noticed that break was coming to a close, as the crowds wandering the halls had mostly dispersed aside from a few stragglers.

"Sesshoumaru? Nice?" Rin looked almost offended at the idea. "No, he's not really nice. But he could be considered nice if you don't ruffle his fur... that could be taken literally I guess." When Kagome still looked at her, begging for elaboration, Rin just said, "It's hard to explain the brother's personalities until you've met them... But that may not apply to Inuyasha, I guess. Just don't tell anyone what I told you about him. He's been trying to hide his parent's death for years."

A bell echoed throughout the cavernous halls of the high school, and that was when the three friends seemed to notice that they were one of the only ones left in the corridor.

Kagome's second period class was Math with Mr. Hamm, and it was, regrettably, not with Rin or Sango. She bid goodbye to both girls and hurried down to the third floor.

She clattered down to the classroom, hoping to make a more poised entrance that time, but it was not to be so. In a hurry just to get to class on time, Kagome wrenched open the classroom door with too much force just as Mr. Hamm and the principal opened the door on the other side, laughing about something one of them had just said. The result was a headlong collision between Kagome and the math teacher, and in the process, his papers scattered and his wig flew off his head and landed ten feet away looking like something that was hit with a car and left in the sun near the railroad tracks.

Kagome shook her head to clear it and found herself on the floor, Mr. Hamm only a few feet from her in a similar position. Her first impression was that he was aptly named. Mr. Hamm did indeed resemble a pig. He was round, the buttons on his tweed suit almost bursting along his middle. She could tell he was naturally pink in the face, but it had turned red in anger, and it took her a moment to figure out why until she saw the toupee yards away on the ground and the horrid comb over it had hidden.

A group of students appeared in the doorway, whispering behind their hands or laughing out loud, and Kagome could hear the words "new girl" several times. She began to flush in embarrassment and was half tempted to crawl under Mr. Hamm's wig to hide her rosy cheeks, but that would be undignified. Instead she did the only sensible thing she could think of.

"I'm so sorry!" She brushed off her skirt and began gathering up her teacher's fallen papers as he made to stand up himself after gathering up his wig. She handed him a pile of clumsily stacked assignments and apologized several times as he placed the hair back on his head and straightened it out comfortably. "I'm really sorry!" She felt momentary thanks as she vaguely noticed the principal, while smuggling a laugh, trying to herd all the other students back into their individual seats.

"That's, well, that's all right, young lady." Mr. Hamm seemed flustered, but managed to shake off the feeling of mounting embarrassment. Kagome noticed with some discomfort that he kept using a self-conscious hand to straighten out the wig, which had already began to get quite flat, on his head. "Have a seat now, miss. Class has already started."

As she followed him through the doorway, she breathed a sigh of relief. Though she was embarrassed, it looked as though her teacher was able to overlook the whole incident, which was taken as a good sign... that was until a fellow student shouted something rude directed at Mr. Hamm, who had bent over double at his desk to put away papers, hand still absent-mindedly stroking his head.

"You all right, Pinky?" The comment was immediately met by bouts of cruel laughter from everyone in the classroom. Kagome took that as her cue to make her way quietly to one of the seats in the very back of the classroom, hopefully unnoticed.

Mr. Hamm immediately straightened up behind his desk, his face becoming even more red, if that was possible, and his beady eyes searched the classroom for the culprit. With the whole student body in raucous laughter, it was impossible to distinguish who exactly had spoken those offending words, but it was possible to seek out the cause of his embarrassment.

Kagome's brown eyes met the small watery eyes of Mr. Hamm if only for a moment, and they narrowed in such a way that promised an hour of pure torture. She groaned as she slid into her seat so far that only everything above her shoulders was visible from the other side of her desk. She tried pointedly to ignore all the stares and grins she was getting from those sitting in front of her.

As the laughter began to die down, Mr. Hamm tapping obnoxiously on the blackboard, Kagome huffed, the air causing her bangs to briefly float off of her forehead. She inwardly cursed the injustice of it all. The one subject she had no confidence in, and now the teacher of the dreaded class had a death wish for her.

That was when Kagome, full of spite, decided to ignore Mr. Hamm and instead thought back to her conversation with Rin and Sango... She glanced at the watch. _Jesus, that was only seven minutes ago..._

_... They felt responsible for my parents death, so they brought me in. And Inuyasha had recently lost his parents also, so living there at first tended towards being morbid..._

Of course it would have been morbid. What sort of child would celebrate the death of their own parents? Kagome thought the idea sounded absurd. If that was the case, why had Rin sounded so surprised and secretive when she was recalling it? Unless morbid really was not the best term to describe the situation...

Her first impression of Inuyasha, added with his personal accounts from Rin and Sango, was that he seemed quite volatile. If that was so, the house would probably have been more loud and angry rather than quiet and reserved like a funeral. She conjured up a mental image of a seven-year-old with dog ears throwing a lamp halfway across the room to shatter it against a wall. It was enough to make Kagome's heart clench tightly in her chest.

_He seemed like quite a disturbed child since then. At least that's all I know... no details or anything..._

Again, it was understandable. Most children would bear some sort of mental scars after enduring something so painful. Kagome certainly had after her dad's body had been found buried in the rubble of a landslide. With a pang of guilt, she immediately regretted questioning him so forcefully about his parents the day before at his house. At the time, she had not known them to be dead. Her fingers fiddled with her pencil on the top of her desk as she pretended to pay attention to her math teacher.

For some reason, she could not help but feel close to him. Was that the reason she was so... interested? Concerned? Intrigued about his rude nature? _He's been trying to hide his parent's death for years..._ Was that possible in a school that slurped gossip out of the sky like a frog? Did that apply to Kikyou and Rin as well? If it did, maybe Rin wasn't actually pretending when she said she had no idea about any of the details.

Suddenly, a purple-faced Mr. Hamm appeared in front of Kagome, and it was as if his presence alone had blocked her inspiration, and her attention snapped at once. Without looking at her, Mr. Hamm chucked a packet in her general direction. She saved it from nearly sliding off onto her lap.

"I hope you all were paying close attention to my lecture," he said as he waddled back to his desk. "You have the remainder of class to finish this packet of review questions for one hundred points." He sat down and pulled his spectacles from his pocket, propping up a cookbook in front of him as the rustling of papers told Kagome that everyone was starting on their workload.

She started herself, flipping back the first page of the packet, and her heart immediately started to fall as she looked at the first problem. _I don't even know what pi equals!_

It had been thirty minutes, and already most of the class had turned in their own worksheets. Mr. Hamm had even finished correcting some of them. Kagome looked down at her paper, and reflexively stuck her already chewed eraser back into her mouth. She still was only halfway done, and there were only twenty-five hellish minutes left of class. It did not help her concentration when she noticed most everyone else whispering to each other behind their hands.

Finally, after a grueling ten minutes, Kagome managed to complete her assignment. She knew, with a gut-wrenching feeling, that she had succeeded in getting at least half of the answers wrong. Once she had handed the packet over to a malicious-looking Mr. Hamm, the class erupted in voices. Her paper was the last one that needed grading. She stood there in nervous silence as her math teacher flipped through and marked her packet with an offensive red pen. She fidgeted and felt extremely small in his presence.

But when he had finished, he did not give her paper back to her, instead ordering her to sit down. She did this with a clenched jaw and ignored the annoyed glares of her classmates. Anger boiled inside her as Mr. Hamm followed slightly behind in her wake to start handing back the corrected papers to everyone in class, whistling "Yankee Doodle" like a whining teapot. He purposely skipped Kagome's desk and handed her nothing, which made her mouth almost drop open in disbelief.

The beefy math teacher ambled back to his desk and cleared his throat with the sound of a piece of chalk snapping in half. He faced the class, holding two papers in his large sweaty-looking hands.

Kagome's was one of them.

"Now class," he said matter-of-factly despite the fact that most people were not paying him much heed. "I have two papers here in my hand. One has received an excellent score: one hundred percent. The other one got a failing grade. In order to motivate you all, I would like for you to see the difference." With an unnecessary flourish, he turned over the first paper. Kagome turned beet-red when she realized that it was hers. "This is the failing student," he said, showing of the blazing score of fifty-three much longer than was needed and looking obviously in the direction of the paper's owner.

Kagome knew he was just pulling that crap with her to get her back for something that was not even that big of a deal in the first place! His real hair was obviously in the past for him, but her scores in class were part of her future, albeit a bleak one judging by the fifty-three on the packet. Math was _not_ her forte.

After waiting very patiently for a few people to stop sniggering, Mr. Hamm then proceeded. "This is the perfect score and, might I add, that I am very proud of this young woman." When he turned over the paper, Kagome's gasp of surprise was lost amongst a round of applause.

Under the giant "100" that was written at the top of the page, Kagome could just make out the letters spelling out the name "Kikyou." Now, along with being furious with Mr. Hamm and Kikyou, she felt an unfair irritation towards Sango and Rin for giving her the impression that Kikyou was a dolt.

To make matters even worse, Kikyou stood up in her seat, and Kagome had to stop from letting out a cry of disgust.

Kikyou's waist-length hair was heavily curled and framed a face that looked as if it was caked with make-up. False eyelashes protruded dangerously below eyelids smothered in green eye shadow, and big red lips formed a sort of simpering smile as she waited for the clapping to die down around her. The physical resemblance between the both of them, Kagome hated to admit, was uncanny.

"Excellent work as usual, Miss Kikyo!" Mr. Hamm said, unable to stop himself from clapping a little bit either. "You could surely teach Ms. Higurashi a thing or two about studying!" There were several nods of agreement and for the thousandth time, Kagome felt the whole class turn their eyes on her scarlet face.

Kikyou walked up to the front of the classroom and shook Mr. Hamm's hand in her own excessively manicured one. Kagome was surprised to see that her mini skirt actually _did_ resemble a shower curtain, a gaudy rose covering half of it on the front. "Thank you, Mr. Hamm. It was no problem. With your teaching skills, I don't see how _anyone_ could fail." Her voice was sickeningly sweet and complemented her false smile wonderfully.

Kagome rolled her eyes, and it went unnoticed. _Sango and Rin were right. She is annoying._

"And Miss Higurashi," Mr. Hamm said. "It looks like you need some work. Perhaps you should be tutored after school if you can't keep your grade up in my class." Kikyou strutted back to her seat, and Kagome noticed in mild disgust that the male population in the classroom had their eyes glued to her chest, which was nearly falling out of her skimpy top. "Maybe Kikyou would even agree to help you."

Kagome's jaw dropped, and she didn't even try to stop it. _Kikyou! No way in hell! Math is so not worth staying after school!_ She wanted to pick up Algebra by Griffin and Co. and chuck it at her teacher's round, pink face, where she imagined it would make a disturbing squelching sound, but instead she replied with self control, "That won't be necessary, Mr. Hamm. I promise to try a lot harder." She knew before she said it that it was going to sound lame, but the math instructor seemed mildly satisfied and responded with a curt nod as if he had reached a goal of his own.

At a sparing glance at the clock, Kagome saw with a mixture of relief and horror that there were still six and a half minutes left to endure.

"All right then," Mr. Hamm said, turning to the chalkboard. "Now that that's all cleared up, it's time to give you your homework assignment for the day." there was a collective rustling as the entire class pulled out their planners and began to write. "You will complete problems one through thirty on page twenty-two." Nearly everyone groaned. "Since this is a new chapter, you all need to only complete the odd numbers."

Before he could change his mind, the echoing bell of the high school rang throughout the halls. "I'll see all of you tomorrow." The entire class stampeded over toward the door, all attempting to be the first one out.

Kagome literally had a foot out of the door when Mr. Hamm beckoned to her. "Miss Higurashi?"

Kagome instantly regretted her decision to sit the farthest away from the door. "Yes, sir?" she responded, hesitant. She and her teacher were the only ones left in the classroom. There was no one present to witness anything if the piggish little man decided to slit her throat.

"Do you know what the homework assignment it?"

"Y-Yes, sir. Problems one through thirty on page twenty-two... but only the odd numbers." She honestly wondered why he was asking her that.

Mr. Hamm laughed. "Indeed. But just to make sure you absorb all the information, I think it would be best for you to do problems one through thirty... _all_ of them." The man waddled out of his classroom and was lost in a wave of students before Kagome could even get in a protest. She stood in shocked silence for a few seconds and then followed the teacher's path out of the classroom.

_Why the snivelling little – _

Kagome was thankful to finally get out of that class, but more relieved to finally get the hell away from Mr. Hamm. The bastard really had a lot of nerve! He not only embarrassed her in front of the entire class, but he had the _gall _to go and assign her an unfair amount of homework. His class had mucked up her brain so much so that Kagome had trouble recalling anything that had happened to her before second period.

She knew she would eat a whole bucket load of bacon the next day to get back at him. His piggy eyes and Kikyou's simpering laugh had followed her all the way out of the classroom, taunting and teasing her into the corridor where it evaporated once mixed with the thunder of many feet and many voices over many staircases. She no longer felt any hint of remorse for knocking off his hairpiece.

Kagome started following the horde of students walking to lunch. Her mood improved considerably when she saw Rin and Sango waiting for her outside the cafeteria. At least their friendship hadn't been a "one hour" sort of thing, which she was used to in the past.

"How was math?" Rin asked innocently, yet somewhat hesitantly, eyeing her approaching friend's grimace.

Kagome laughed mirthlessly, and her two friends appeared top have gotten the hint – she had not enjoyed herself one bit.

"We both had Hamm for math last year. He's usually a bit of an ass," Sango admitted as Rin nodded beside her.

"Only a bit?" Kagome's disbelief was half genuine and half joking.

All three of them laughed. They linked arms and walked through the swinging double-doors of the cafeteria for some well-deserved food**.

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**Author's Note:** Erm... not much of a cliffhanger, but how was it overall? I hope you guys continue to read this even though the updates are very erratic. Stay tuned for the next chapter (whenever it comes out). Kikyou and Inuyasha should be making regular appearances soon.

About Mr. Hamm... I just thought the idea of a mean teacher was amusing... Haha. We'll see if he has any significance in the plot later on. ;)


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